The press

[SoonerNorm]

I personally love to see teams press. I like to see teams start guarding their opponents when they get off the bus and make it difficult for them to get to the locker room.

Sherri has been known to run an effective half-court trap which I liked as well. Anything that takes the offensive team out of their rhythm and creates a greater chance the offensive player being pressured will make a mistake is great basketball to me. I realize you have to have depth in order to run a press because of fatigue and the possibility of fouling more but depth should not be an issue for us this fall.

I hope Sherri implements a type of press and stays with it all year. The more we run it the better we should become and the more effective it should be in tiring the opponent down, creating turnovers, and disrupting their offensive possessions.

 

[35TangoTango]

What you really have to have to press effectively is 3 quick perimeter players. The 2002 team is a good example.

That said, I think that the ball handling capabilities of today's guards is so much better than even 10 years ago, that short of initiating a lot of physical contact (which I think will get called more next year), it's pretty hard to keep a good point guard from going where they want to go with the ball.

I guess what I'm saying is that, IMO, the full court press isn't the weapon it used to be.

 

[SoonerNorm]

The ONLY player we have that gave me an easy feeling bringing the ball up court was Morgan. If she had to give the ball up to another player I always held my breath. Most teams do not have 3 great ball handlers. Pressure exposes that weakness quickly.

The alternative is to let the offensive team run their normal offense and see if you can keep them from being successful. My theory is, don't allow them to run anything in a normal fashion, make them work for everything they get and be as disruptive as possible.

 

[sybarite]

A good press doesn't actually result in fouls. It is about staying close enough to cause any problem to be magnified, create mistakes. Unfortunately, those who put on the press tend to be human and do foul.

I thought we might press last year until we lost four players. That kind of cuts down on availability. Maddie and Whitney were also effective at bringing the ball up, or at applying the press.

 

[35TangoTango]

Just out of curiosity, how are we defining "press"? In my mind, putting pressure on the ball and trying to trap in transition, either full, 3/4, or 1/2 court, is a press.

You can pressure the ball and deny the first pass in a half-court offense situation, but in my mind that is not necessarily a press, is it?

 

[sybarite]

What would you call it if you simply put pressure on the ball, trapping if it is there, but not necessarily trying to trap. You just want to force them to eat up their offensive possession bringing up the ball and create enough pressure to result in mistakes?

 

[35TangoTango]

I think a press involves more than one defender. Press and trap really kind of go together (at least in my mind) and you can't trap with only one person. One person hassling the player bringing up the ball is on-ball pressure, but not a press.

And, again in my mind (it's getting crowded in there), a press is a transition tactic, so that 1-3-1 zone trap we run against a half-court offense is not technically a press.

Agree? Disagree?

 

[mystery32]

I have a feeling sherri is going back to her old ways. More guard oriented.
If she signs more players like Edwards and Williams like she did then she is looking to press a lot more.

 

[rocjunkie]

I think a press involves more than one defender. Press and trap really kind of go together (at least in my mind) and you can't trap with only one person. One person hassling the player bringing up the ball is on-ball pressure, but not a press.

And, again in my mind (it's getting crowded in there), a press is a transition tactic, so that 1-3-1 zone trap we run against a half-court offense is not technically a press.

Agree? Disagree?

I have to politely disagree. We really try to run a 3/4 trap 1-3-1 which is a press. I think our problem is we don't get the ball handler to the sideline quick enough to trap and rotate the defense to the gaps. With the kids she has coming in next year and our returners, I think we will be more effective and quicker on the ball and create more turnover opportunites, however you are right in the half court, that is not a press, its more harassment more than any thing and our rotation is usually pretty good at using up the shot clock.